Gettysburg and Hershey, PA

The reason we came out to Washington D.C. is because Ken's work sold a bunch (million +) of services and software to a government entity. Apparently, they used Ken's resume to sell the government services. So of course the gov't insisted on Ken actually showing up for part of the contract to justify his premium hourly rate. So even though this isn't his job and Ken isn't part of services, he has to be onsite for 4 weeks sometime before the end of the year. Oh joy, for him. It's party time for me and the kids though!

Especially this day because to thank Ken they arranged a fancy schmancy dinner for him to meet up with their consultants. I think it is hilarious that to thank him people are always trying to take him out to nice dinners, and my husband would totally rather pass. Ken tried to convince me to take the kids and join them, but I gleefully declined that torture and took the kids on a long day trip to Gettysburg and Hershey, Pennsylvania.

First stop is Gettysburg, PA. It takes about 90 minutes to get there from where we are staying outside of Washington, D.C. Gettysburg was way more awesome then we expected it to be. We really enjoyed our time there and probably could have spent more.

In the lobby there were guides that had the children re-enact how to use the cannonballs and guns from the civil war which was pretty cool. This guide made Rose the captain and told her she would boss everyone around. She had so much fun!
Darin packed the powder in the cannon and Nathan was a thumb man. It takes 7 men to fire one shot. It is crazy, and the 7 men for the most part have to run 3-5 yards to and from the cannon constantly. Except for the thumb man who pretty much stands there the whole time holding his finger over the hole. I think they said that they could fire off 3 cannonballs in 2 minutes or something like that.
Next Darin and Nathan tried out the riffle. Those suckers were actually way heavier then they look. There was also quite an involved process of packing in the powder, bullet, etc.


The museum had quite an impressive collection of guns; pistols and rifles.

There was a chart on one of the walls that had the number of men who fought in the civil war from every state and the number that fought on the confederate side and how many on the union. I've heard that brothers fought against brothers but it didn't really hit home until I saw the numbers. Even some of the strictly southern states had men that went up to the union and vice versa. The boys and I were talking about this and saw these displays of the different uniforms, it was a very poignant moment.

Cutie Rose thought it was just fun to stand by the clothes so she demanded I take her picture of each of them.

At the museum they had a theatre that showed a film about the Battle of Gettysburg. It was beautifully done and gave a great overview of the war and the importance of the Battle in the Civil War.
Afterwards we went upstairs and saw a Cyclorama of Gettysburg. Are you wondering what a cyclorama is??? We had no idea either. It is a painting that was made about 20 years after the battle. It is nearly 30 feet tall and 360 feet long. It is also hung in a 360 degree circle. It is AMAZING! I have never seen anything like it. They have the bottom of the painting blend into a 3-D display and it goes up into the ceiling. As you stand on a platform about 2/3 of the way up they have a laser show that goes along with the re-telling of the battle. So when they talk about troops approaching from wherever it lights up and comes to life and you can see exactly what they are talking about. My pictures do not do it any justice. It is an incredible painting and experience.

After we toured the rest of the museum we went to the gift shop. Darin got a little bronze gun and Nathan wanted a civil war bullet. Then of course he wanted to go back to the guns and find the one that fired his bullet. Rose and Ginger picked out magnets.
Pennsylvania is so beautiful! It is hard to imagine such a beautiful place being so filled with war and bloodshed. We decided to hike over to the cemetary since it was such a nice day. They had signs on the trail head by the museum building to the cemetary. Well, I should have looked on the map because after a couple of miles we were dying and apparantly only halfway there. Fortunately, we gave up soon after seeing the clearing for the parking lot.
We drove on over to the cemetary.
Walked to the memorial for the Gettysburg Address.

Aftewards we drove part of the Auto Tour. All over the main battlefield there are monuments for different states or infantry divisions. It was really shocking to me to see all of these monuments in the field. Actually it was just shocking to see such a pituresque spot and think of how the field was stained red with bloodshed.


After Gettysburg we drove another hour os so to Hershey, PA.
This city is intoxicating. Right down to it's sweet smelling air. Literally, it smells like candy.

First thing we did was take the free tour. Growing up on the west coast I have toured Jelly Belly Factory a million times. But Hershey has them way beat! It was like you are on a sugar rush riding on an amusement park ride. My girls loved these singing cows!

Thousands of chocolate bars right within our reach!

Darin is holding a 40lb chocolate bar! Can you imagine the calories.
Then we saw a 4-D movie. It was awesome. Rose is totally into 3-D movies. She claps and laughs, and tried to touch everything that jumps out on the screen.


Then we took a Trolley tour of the town of Hershey. This was by far my favorite experience!
It was a singing tour! Not only by the tour leaders, but they also gave us lyrics to sing along. What else could you ask for when you are taking a tour of candy making town!
The downtown area has Hershey Kisses for lightposts lining the street. Some are wrapped and others unwrapped. At one time they thought it was immoral to have naked kisses for lights.
This man made our tour really come to life. He dressed up as different characters as we drove around complete with accents. He was hilarious!!! Here he is as Milton Hershey's Father.
Milton Hershey's Mother.
A factory worker.
A chef at the Hershey hotel.
A soldier.
Two of the most interesting facts that I appreciated from the tour was that Hershey built his mansion just a 5 minute walk away from his factory. He like to walk home for lunch. He also built a whole street of extremely nice homes for his executives that we also just a short walk away from the factory. He would sell the homes to his executives for $1, then after they retired they would sign the home back over to the board. Wouldn't that be nice.

The Hershey's were extremely generous. They built up most of the town including a private school for orphaned boys. It is still a private school that still supports disadvantaged youth completely free. My boys thought it was awesome that they still give each high school graduate $100 just at Milton Hershey did. Also, during the Great Depression Milton Hershey was determined to not layoff a single worker and to provide for everyone in the community who had supported him. Instead of closing his factories, he had his workers build 7 huge institutions for the city including schools, hotel, and parks. Hershey, PA was quite an amazing place and after spending the day there my kids wanted to live there.

Back to our tours...We then made our own custom chocolate bars. It was very fancy. First at a computer you choose what mix-ins, base, and toppings you want. Then you watch it be assembled on the line. We were quite impressed that it would say the name of the person's bar that was in front of the station.

I did mine as one for Ken. Poor man was still stuck in his dinner.
Our bars getting dried.
Then we saw a laser write on our serial code and our name. It was pretty amazing tosee it burn right into the box.
The kids were also able to customize their packaging. Here they all are with their final product.
I even got a picture that one of the guys took of Ken's dinner. Can I just say, that I was not pleased that my husband with his premium hourly rate (as in double) what the other consultants are billed as showed up to his 3 1/2 hour dinner in shorts and a t-shirt. Nice huh! See what happens when I am not there to approve his clothes choices.